State
within
sight
By Wayne Neal
Staff Writer
The
SMC
Women’s
Tennis
team began their journey for
another appearance to the state
championship Tuesday at Reed
Park, as they handled their first
playoff opponent Rio Hondo with
ease.
Heavily favored, the number one
seeded Santa Monica Corsairs were
host to the number eight seeded Rio
Hondo Road Runners in their first
playoff match. The Corsairs came
into the match, focused and ready to
take care of business.
The SMC women dominated the
Road Runners from beginning with
a 5-1 victory, the Corsairs claiming
victories from the first five spots
and Rio Hondo claiming their only
victory in the sixth spot. The win in
the singles matches were enough
to get the win making the doubles
matches unnecessary.
SMC
tennis
alumnus
Sally
Mercado, who played on the team in
2009, was in attendance on Tuesday,
and saw some key differences in this
years’ team that separates them
from her years with the team.
“I see a lot more dedication on this

[See Tennis, page 10]

Jennifer Martinez Corsair
Newly elected A.S. President Harrison Wills, 26, overlooks the outline during final meeting before being elected president. The final meeting
lasted five hours.

A.S. winners announced

By Jonathan Bue
Editor-in-Chief
After a two-week delay, a new Associated
Students board, headed by Presidentelect Harrison Wills, was selected after
a special meeting was conducted by an
Election Committee this past Friday to
resolve whether certain candidates had
violated the election code in their bid for
a seat on the board.
Although
the
four
hour-long
deliberation process determined one
campaign worker and one candidate,
Mackenzie Becket, to be in violation of the

code, the Election Committee ultimately
passed a motion allowing violators to go
unpunished.
Becket, a write-in candidate running
for Director of Student Services, was
designated to having violated items three
and four of section IX, concerning polling
procedure, in a unanimous vote against
her. She was found to have violated the
minimum distance rule stipulated in
item three which states “there must be a
minimum distance of 8 feet between the
candidate or campaign worker and the
user of the personal computer when a
vote is cast to ensure the voter’s privacy,”

and failed to appropriately register her
iPhones for campaign use. As a result,
Becket was suspended from campaigning
during the voting period for one day.
Arthur Rodriguez, a campaign worker
for Harrison Wills, was also found to be
in violation of the minimum distance
rule.
The items were the basis of all six
complaints filed and addressed at the
meeting.
“There have been some voices that are
saying we should just prohibit laptop
computers,” said Leo Leung, Inter Club

[See Election Results, page 3]

Local beach scoured for trash
By Nathan Gawronsky
News Editor
Mide Ogundipe, 23, a member of
Sustainable Works, was busy picking up
remnants of trash on the shore outside of
the hotel Casa Del Mar. On the shore of a
polluted pond, created from the runoff of the
Pico-Kenter outfall, Ogundipe stood among
scraps of plastic, Styrofoam, cigarette butts,
and paper.
“I think people desperately need to
be more aware of what’s going on with
the Earth. People are more interested in
Snooki and that kind of stuff than about the
environment,” said Ogundipe. “Seeing stuff
like this is depressing—this clutter and trash
shouldn’t be here.”
Sixty volunteers from Santa Monica College
and the surrounding areas volunteered
on April 22 to help clean a long stretch of
beach in Santa Monica. Armed with latex
gloves and trash bags, the volunteers broke
off into groups of three and five to comb the
stretch of shore for the detritus left behind by
tourists and locals.
Svetlana Pravina, 18, Treasurer of the
Eco Action Club, helped to organize the
day’s event with Heal The Bay, a non-profit
environmental group that works to restore

the Santa Monica Bay. For most of the
60 volunteers, it would be their first time
cleaning a beach; and for both first timers
and hardened veterans of the cause, the yield

how most of the trash found on the beaches
of Santa Monica is brought from people,
rainstorms, and storm drains leading to the
outfalls that regurgitate into the bay.

Sal Guerra Corsair
Carlos Takeshita, 9-years-old, participates in cleaning the Santa Monica beach with Heal the Bay and
SMC students on April 22. Some of the trash found on the beach included plastic, candy wraps, toy
shovels, cigarette btts and lots of microtrash.

produced astonishing results.
Sixty to 80 percent of marine debris is
plastic, Tom Fleming, Web Producer for
Heal The Bay, explained to the small phalanx
of environmental activists. He explained

Addressing the crowd from a lifeguard hut,
Fleming also explained how it is especially
important to avoid the water from storm
drains, especially if they are stagnant,
“because they’re filled with all kinds of bad

stuff: enterococcus and coliform bacteria are
tested in the outlet’s waters—you definitely
don’t want to take a dip in that water,” said
Fleming.
Fanning out, the small teams busily probed
the sand for micro trash—small scraps of
refuse too small to normally notice. Data
cards, or lists of common items found on the
beach, were distributed to each team, so that
they could meticulously register the contents
within their trash bags. The majority of their
findings were cigarette buts, small strips of
plastic, glass, and paper.
“I had no idea how much micro trash there
was; literally tons of small bits of trash,” said
Alden Anderson, a volunteer. “It feels good
to help clean up.”
“I hope people are surprise by the amount
of garbage they see today,” said Justine
Rembac, A.S. Director of Sustainability and
a member of the Eco Action Club. Rembac,
recalling the moment when she became
inspired to take up environmental causes,
spoke about an environmental political
science class under Professor Amber
Katherine. “It’s just one of those classes
that truly motivated and inspired me to get
involved.”
“I can’t make anyone care,” said Rembac.
“I can only give them the opportunity to.”

SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

2

April 20, 2011

NEWS

theCorsaironline.com

Californians squeeze hands for cash
[Hands, from page 1]
out there, along with Mitra Moassessi
(Faculty Association President) and Nancy
Greenstein (Member of Board of Trustees).”
Barbara Ige, an Alumni Coordinator,
led the effort to organize the event with
student life on campus. “The match by the
Osher Foundation was fantastic,” she said,
referring to the Bernard Osher Foundation’s
pledge to match all donations by 50 percent.
Despite the event being considered by
some a relative success, some considered the
overall gathering to be paltry and insufficient.
Making matters more complicated, the HAC
website has been periodically inoperative,
making it difficult for supporters to make
direct donations to SMC. “To be honest, I was
surprised,” said an organizer who requested

to be quoted anonymously. “There were a lot
more people than I expected.” Speaking of
the FCCC: “They didn’t give us a lot of lead
time, or any instructions on how to approach
this.
“I was really frustrated by the final result,”
they said.
As of April 19, $32,638 has been raised
towards benefiting the California community
college system, with $736 raised to directly
benefit SMC.
Jill Scofield, Director of Public Relations
for the FCCC, explained that the event was
planned on a tight schedule which prevented
the FCCC from being able to allocate a date
which best served the entire California
community college system.
“The idea wasn’t even discussed until last
fall, so we tried to do it on a relatively short

time frame,” said Scofield. “We thought the
turnout overall was a powerful message that
we hope will continue to reverberate.”
Supporter turnouts varied greatly campus
to campus. According to Sarah Goding,
a Staff Writer from The Breeze, 100-150
supporters assembled outside of Chafey
College. Codey Shore, Editor-in-Chief of
Santa Barbara City College’s The Channels,
counted 47 supporters.
Figures provided by Ige tally 300-400
people who came out to support El Camino
City College, and over 1,000 supporters for
Victor Valley College. “I would say it has to
do with how students feel they’ll be effected,”
said Alex Emslie, Editor-in-Chief of San
Francisco City College’s The Guardsman.
“The majority of the students who came out
to support this event were ESL students,

because they feel concerned that the budget
cuts could directly effect their courses.”
“The fact that people were willing to come
out on a Sunday is promising,” said Reid
Milburn, Campus and Community Relations
Director for the FCCC and former Student
Senate President of SMC. “Doing this on
such short notice probably didn’t help us,
but hopefully this will be the start of more
activities.”
“We were only lacking in reinforcements.
You would think that with more than
30,000 students at SMC and hundreds of
faculty members that more people would
have come out, especially during these lean
budget times.
Supporters can donate to Hands Across
California by visiting handsacrosscalifornia.
org or by texting HANDS to 27722.

Green week on campus Election
flubbed

[Earth, from page 1]

are the ones who are going to inherit
these problems,” said Bertone.
“I heard once that as a generation,
you don’t get to choose your cause,”
said Bertone. In the 80s, the cause
was HIV, in the 70s it was the Vietnam
War, in the 60s it was the civil rights
movement, she said. According
to her, this generation’s cause is
environmental issues.
“The city of Santa Monica is one of
the greenest cities in the nation,” said
Bertone.
She said as a community college that
is located in a green city, it’s important
that we respond to our community
interests.
Bertone said SMC has had Earth Day
festivals for over 10 years; however,

the first time it was a full week event
was in 2007, when the environmental
audit was launched. She said that
people in all constituencies on campus
express an interest in helping the
environment.
“I mean, the environment is kind of
like mom and apple pie, it’s really hard
to be against it,” Bertone said Bertone.
Lisa Burns, SMC’s Environmental
Services Administrative Assistant,
said she has always been aware of the
environment and trying to do her part,
which is why she applied to work for
CEUS.
“It wasn’t until I got a full time job
here that I’ve just been ‘bitten by the
bug,’ so to speak,” said Burns, “I’m
just trying to change everything in my
life to be a more sustainable person in

every way, shape, or form.”
Burns said she jumped at the
opportunity to be a part of Earth
Week because she loves working with
students.
“I’m learning so much from them,
they just really have opened my eyes to
a lot of the things that I could be doing
differently,” she said.
She said Earth Week is an attempt
at making people aware of everyday
things they can do that can make a
difference in the environment. “It’s
about opening the eyes of people that
are just not aware,” she said.
“People just don’t understand the
effects of throwing a plastic bottle in
the trash versus recycle,” said Burns,
“Just that one little change can make
such a huge difference.”

[Election, from page 1]

privacy” by standing too close to students
while voting, and pressuring students to vote
for them during last year’s elections, Leung
explained.
Election results have yet to be privately
determined as well. “We don’t want the
results to influence the committee because
if [the candidates] violated the code, they
violated the code,” said Leung.
As of 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 7, at least
3,500 student voters have been tallied.
Compared to last year’s 2010 votes, this
year’s A.S. election saw a 50% increase in
voters, resulting in a new record for student
voter turnout in an A.S. election.

SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

April 20, 2011

LIFESTYLE

theCorsaironline.com

3

LA cracks down on distracted driving

Fabian Cooke Corsair
Santa Monica College Police have been cracking down on distracted drivers during April, issuing more tickets for texting
and non-hands free cell phone use, due to Distracted Driving Awareness Month.

By Jennifer Ferrada
Staff Writer
We may be in the smart
phone era, but according to
the government, talking or
texting on the phone while
driving is not necessarily
smart itself. Today’s world
of advanced technology may
bring us great conveniences,
but when it poses a threat to
the well being of people, the
convenience factor becomes

insignificant.
April is Distracted Driving
Awareness Month, serving as
a reminder for how deadly
the consequences can be
when driving without the full
attention being placed on
the road. Law enforcement
statewide, including the Los
Angeles Police Department
(LAPD),
have
expressed
their support for launching
a crackdown on the mass
amounts of texting occurring

on the roads.
The department believes
that texting and driving is not
much better than drinking
and driving, considering how
drivers who use phones while
driving are still four times
more likely to be in a car
accident.
Despite
how
many
individuals may agree with the
message being demonstrated,
some
are
still
hesitant
to the idea of more police

involvement. “I don’t think
you accomplish anything by
fear or by scaring people,”
SMC
student
Yonatan
Mallinger stated. Mallinger
stressed how important the
use of education is and how
much more it should be relied
on.
According to student and
motorist Olga Shields, police
enforcement by way of tickets
is the correct disciplinary
action for being caught
texting while driving. Shields
even believes that the rate for
charging people should be
higher.
“There’s not always a way
to make people realize the
action is bad, sometimes the
way is to just make them not
want to get the ticket. Keep
charging them, and maybe
they’ll stop,” Shields said.
“We have been enforcing
the law against talking on
cell phones while driving ever
since it came out two years
ago. It’s being spotlighted
now because people keep
continuing to just break
the law by talking on a cell
phone while they’re driving,”
said Officer Aguayo of the
LAPD who works with the
investigation of accidents.
When asked about the
differences
of
using
a
Bluetooth, Aguayo expressed
that he does feel they are
better than breaking the

law and handling the phone
with your hands. “But when
you’re driving, you shouldn’t
be distracted by any other
stuff. And that includes
having a plug on your ear.
It’s still distracting you from
focusing on your driving 100
percent,” Aguayo elaborated
as he fully stressed the critical
importance to stay away from
distracted driving.
Having investigated a lot
of accidents, Aguayo has
come across many cases of
distracted drivers who were
caught using their cell phones.
“Sometimes not until you’ve
hurt or killed someone, do you
realize the dangers involved
when you’re breaking the
law in this manner,” he said.
This unfortunate realization
Aguayo has made about some
drivers in his field of police
work poses a challenge for
drivers everywhere, which is
to be proactive now and stop
driving distracted.
In a world where news
travels at the speed of light, it
may seem impossible to resist
the urge to check your phone
at every red light or while
in traffic on the freeway.
However, unless
you are
willing to receive a hefty fine
for that little bit of gossip you
can grab from your phone, it
may be best to ignore the ring
of your phone and keep your
eyes on the road.

SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

April 20, 2011

A&E

4

theCorsaironline.com

Cathy Arias Corsair
The sun sets over the playa at Coachella in Indo, Calif.

By Cathy Arias
Staff Writer
Masses of sunshine and sweat-drenched
people assembled at the Empire Polo Club
field grounds this past weekend for the
Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival,
devotedly withstanding the intense desert
heat in hopes of realizing their Coachella
fantasies.
Coachella is most easily described as a
playground for adults.
The grounds boast colorful and
conspicuous art pieces, some doubling as
shade structures, seating, or interactive
forms of entertainment, in case any of the
120 bands from the festival’s lineup do not
provide enough of it.
Sounds coming from any of the six stages
filled the ears of the eclectic Coachella
crowd, starting at noon on Friday and
ending in the early hours of Monday.
Lining the night skies above the 75,000
concert-goers are streaks of hundreds of
balloons on a line, each individually lit by a
single-colored LED light along with grand
light beams coming from the perimeters
of the event, creating an enclosed, tented
feeling.

The celebrated event attracted celebrities
such as Katy Perry, Leonardo DiCaprio,
Kirsten Dunst, Rihanna, Paris Hilton and
many more.
This year’s most notable headliners
included famous rapper Kanye West,
Grammy award-winning band Arcade Fire,
the UK’s Kings of Leon, and The Strokes.
Friday afternoon, Dutch music producer
and DJ Afrojack made fans dance despite
the heat with his pulsing beats, but more so,
surprised them with a guest DJ appearance
from 2009 Coachella headliner, Sir Paul
McCartney.
Following Interpol, the two-man band
The Black Keys soulfully rocked the main
stage later in the night. Drummer of the
Black Keys, Patrick Carney, returned to
the stage as thousands sang “the birthday
song” in celebration of his 31st birthday.
Kings of Leon managed to satisfy those
familiar with both their old and new
records while delivering strong, sometimes
sexual, musical vibes. Intense audiovisual
stimulation delighted and overwhelmed
those with enough energy to enjoy the
Chemical Brothers epic ending to the first
night of Coachella.
Lesser-known indie bands such as The

Cathy Arias Corsair
Coachella go-ers give their ears and legs a break while soaking up the
sun, resting on the giant “reelMobile.”

Tallest Man on Earth and Here We Go
Magic delivered melodic tunes midday
Sunday, as well as up-and-coming band
Cage the Elephant. Before performing
their latest single, “Shake Me Down,”
Cage the Elephant’s front man, Matthew
Shultz, crowd surfed amongst the eager
sea of sweaty rockers mirroring his strong
energetic presence.
As the hot day turned into night, a full
moon shone brightly through the beams
and past the brightly colored palm trees as
indie-folk band Mumford and Sons took the
main stage. Lead singer Marcus Mumford
admitted that the band had never played
in front of an audience as large as the one
gathered in front of them.
They began after he asked the enthralled
audience, “shall we dance?” and concluded
with their beloved hit singles, “Little Lion
Man” and “The Cave.”
The highly acclaimed Montrealbased band, Arcade Fire, met the high
expectations of all their fans with an
entertaining and engaging presentation
of hits from their newest album, “The
Suburbs,” but also tenacious anthems like
“Rebellion (Lies)” and “Neighborhood #3
(Power Out).” Towards the end of their

Cathy Arias Corsair
Kanye West performs “Power,” a track off of his newest
album, as fireworks light up the night desert sky.

set, lit orbs fell down onto the audience, all
simultaneously changing colors bouncing
off of the allured crowd.
On Sunday night, Kanye West’s
performance wrapped up the weekend
with an elevated platform allowing him to
spew raps from above, fireworks, a guest
appearance by musician Justin Vernon
from Bon Iver, and a bold statement, “This
is the most important show I’ve done since
my mama passed away.” West’s theatrical
set was well received by his fans.
In comparison to last year’s Coachella,
higher security measures allowed for a
more open environment, far less unsettling
than last year’s overcrowded vicinities. The
festival, though a six-day record sell-out
does not suggest a need for change, has
evolved into a more organized event.
Wristband issues, drug and alcohol
related arrests, and a sometimes faulty
main stage audio system were minor
problems that did not interfere with the
overall unforgettable experience Coachella
is always able to provide its adoring
fans. Surely there are thousands already
counting down the days until the next time
they can get together for a weekend in the
makeshift musical utopia that is Coachella.

Cathy Arias Corsair
Adoring Arcade Fire fans become mesmerized by the massive amount
of lit orbs that fall from the stage which end up as party favors.

SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

April 20, 2011

A&E

theCorsaironline.com

5

Emeritus college
launches new exhibit

Sammy Soliman Corsair
Alex Vital and Cass Cassidy complimenting each others photos at the Emeritus college opening reception for the new photo exhibit Between Light and Shadow on Thursday April 7, 2011 in
Santa Monica, Calif.

By Juan Lopez
Staff Writer
Families and administrators attended the
opening night of the Santa Monica College
student photography exhibit, Between
Light and Shadow, on Thursday, April 7, at
the Emeritus College Gallery.
“Where would you find a plastic bee like
that?” asked Lucille D’amico, commenting
on the precision with which a bee’s image
was taken.
The photographer of “Pollen Picking
Honeybee,” Alex Vidal, followed the bee
from poppy to poppy until it was in just the
right position to get the shot he wanted for
his photo, which now hangs in the corner
of the gallery.
Charles Haskell, a retired doctor, has
been taking photo classes at Emeritus for
five years. One of his displayed works,
“Droplet Landscape”, looks like a reflecting
water droplet, but is in fact sap. Haskell
said, “I was walking in Will Rogers State
Park and I saw this little drop of sap on the

lower edge of a tree limb and took out my
macro lens.”
“That’s what I teach,” said their
photography instructor Ken Buckner, “to
see the shot.” Haskell’s other photograph
on display, “Tennis Spectator,” is of a deer
hiding on a hillside that Buckner happened
to spot while he was attending a tennis
match.
Emeritus College has been providing free
classes to older adults for 36 years, offering
classes in health, business, computers,
and the arts. Buckner says, “They’re here
because they want to be here, they’re here
because they’re learning and they’re having
a thrill.”
The gallery exhibit showcases work from
older adult students who have had varying
degrees of photography experience,
but have all been learning more about
composition and digital imaging. Haskell
supports his hobby of photography
by learning Photoshop, and began
experimentation in the field starting with
one camera. He now has four professional

level cameras and has done pro bono
work for non-profit organizations such
as the YMCA, Westside Shelter & Hunger
Coalition, and the Santa Monica Library.
Meeting old friends at the exhibit’s
opening night, architect and Emeritus
College student Doris Power says, “I built
these two ladies’ houses.” Power provided
the promotional image for the exhibit, of a
reflecting pond of pyramids she took while
in Mexico City admiring the architecture of
Ricardo Legoretta. “I never knew how to do
things with a digital camera,” Power said.
For the piece entitled “Pyramid Pond,” she
used paint daubs because she “liked the
sense of it being more opaque.”
Aside from mingling, the opening night
exhibit also included the handing out
of awards, with first place going to Cass
Cassidy’s “Girl on a Train;” a sepia portrait
of a young girl with wind playing in her hair.
Her first reaction was, “I thought if I won,
my ‘Egyptian Girl’ would win. I thought it
was the best picture I’ve taken in my life.”
Cassidy has been taking photos for years,

but started taking classes four years ago
when she decided she needed to “fix” her
photos up. She took her favorite photo,
“Egyptian Girl,” a close up of a young girl,
while at a McDonald’s. “I was having a
sandwich and this little girl is sitting in
front of me, it looked perfect.”
“We have a great time playing with
photography,” said Buckner. “My seniors
give me 110 percent.” Former curator of the
Emeritus Gallery, Lynn LaBate, described
Emeritus College as a vibrant place with
strong connections between the faculty and
their students.
Other winners of the night included Carol
Kleinman, who works with single image
reflections printed on canvas, giving the
effect of one image being laid on top of the
other, and Jim Gerstley, whose “Sognefjord
Mountain and Clouds” gives stark contrasts
between cliff sides, sun, and clouds.
“Between Light and Shadow” is showing
at the Emeritus College Gallery located at
1227 2nd Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Friday May 13.

Your Highness bows out gracefully

By Kevin Duncan
Staff Writer
Your Highness, directed by
David Gordon Green (Pineapple
Express), hit the silver screens
this past Friday. This delightful yet
dirty comedy is filled with obscene
language and lewd jokes, as fantasy
crosses over with comedy, a mix
that usually does not come out
successful.
Danny McBride, James Franco,
and Natalie Portman all do an
excellent job in their adapted roles.
McBride, who starred in hilarious
comedies such as Tropic Thunder,
Hot Rod, and Pineapple Express
(alongside co-star James Franco),
does a great job delivering humor
and absurdity in this hysterical
movie.
With a budget of $5 million,
filming for Your Highness took take
place in Northern Ireland, which
allowed for a truly breathtaking

setting for the movie. Green
pastures and mountains dominated
the screen at times, and divine
waterfalls actually made Portman
look more stunning than she
already is.
Thadeous (McBride) and Fabious
(Franco) are the sons of King
Tallious (Charles Dance). Both
brothers are warriors, however,
they are completely opposite of
each other. Fabious is the younger,
more exuberant, and valiant
warrior, whereas Thadeous is the
juvenile and lethargic one who has
never set foot on a quest.
The movie received an R-rating
due to the fact that there was nudity
and a lot of profanity. However,
Your Highness’s use of profanity
added more flavor to the scenes
making the film hilarious.
McBride adds great disdain and
mockery throughout the entire
movie, with very little seriousness,
as is his character.

During the course of the movie
McBride is rude and vulgar, an
aspect the audience loves to see in
a comedian.
Franco is extremely likeable in
his role and adapts well to comedy,
his character in Pineapple Express
was nothing short of hilarious and
already proved that he gets the job
done. Portman is always a pleasure
to watch as she plays a tough yet
tantalizing lone warrior.
It’s a joy to see the Academy
Award winner perform in a
different type of movie and role
from her previous works. Then of
course there’s Justin Theroux as
the evil wizard Leezar. He does a
great job portraying the antagonist,
adding humor to a role in which it
is not always present.
One will enjoy this movie filled
with a star-studded cast, only if they
like crude and obscene humor, with
a fairly predictable, nevertheless
well thought out, plot.

Courtesy of Universal

THIS WEEK AT SMC
April 19-24
“KCRW
Presents: The
Merchants of
Venice”

April 20

For ticketing information on
events at the Broad Stage, visit
thebroadstage.com

Video Spark Notes: A no-brainer
By Nick Lotz
Staff Writer
Spark Notes, the company famous
for providing summaries of novels
for students to use when they feel
like blowing off required reading, has
recently released Video Spark Notes,
a YouTube channel that allows people
to watch an eight-minute cartoon
summarizing classic novels.
So why not use Video Spark Notes?
It isn’t cheating. Arguably, you’re only
cheating yourself from the benefits of
actually reading and understanding
classic literature. But if you’re about
to take a test on a book you’ve never
cracked open, using Video Spark Notes
would really just be smart.
If Student A reads Hamlet and
Student B watches a Video Spark Notes
of Hamlet, and they both get the same
grade on the test, isn’t student B being
more efficient and time conscious?
And isn’t that more valuable in today’s
working world than a fully fleshed
knowledge of the capture of Moby
Dick?
For all anyone knows, Student B
could be developing a cure for cancer

in the time he saved using Video Spark
Notes. In all likelihood, he’s doing
something more akin to getting stoned
and playing Halo, but still, he could be
doing something useful.
Plus, what about Student C, who used
Video Spark Notes because she didn’t
have time to read while watching her
kid? So there we are: Video Spark
Notes is a useful tool. They may mark
the end of intellectualism as we know
it, but they’re useful nonetheless.
I mean, what’s wrong with a tool
that’s going to boost a student’s GPA?
Surviving in the “real” world without
a bachelors degree nowadays is tough
business, and without a high school
diploma or GED, forget it, give up your
aspirations of becoming an actor and
apply at McDonalds, because that’s
about as far as you’ll get.
So in a world where GPA scores have
become as competitive as the Super
Bowl, what is one to do? Study. Use
your brain the way students have
been expected to do since the dawn of
education.
Video Spark Notes are nothing more
than a mark of things gone wrong, a
symbol of idiocy in a country who’s

become the best at not giving a damn.
According to the California State
University’s page on television and
health, Americans watch 250 billion
hours of television each year. That’s
250 billion hours that were spent
partaking in an activity that has
literally no positive benefit in one’s
life whatsoever. It can’t help you find
work, or a healthy relationship, and it
doesn’t make you smarter. In fact, it
might make you more stupid.
A study from Princeton.edu entitled
“Media and Attention, Cognition,
and School Achievement,” found that
television viewing was negatively
linked with achievement. It also found
that people with a lower IQ tended to
watch more television.
But then again, Video Spark Notes
isn’t television; it’s a source for
“educational videos” on the Internet.
The computer is the greatest tool of our
generation, and there has to be some
positive benefit to its use.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported in their 2010 American Time
Use Survey that individuals aged 1519 spent five minutes daily reading
compared to, on average, an hour using

a computer for leisure. That’s a ratio
of 1:12, which means high school and
college kids spend 15 times more time
on the computer than they do reading.
Which makes sense, when considering
what reading is competing with.
What brave soul would dare to
venture into the heady and complicated
works of authors such as James Joyce
and David Foster Wallace when a new
Call of Duty map pack is released?
Reading takes time and patience,
it requires one to sit still and remain
silent for extended periods of time.
And classic novels are no coffee table
books either. Many of the lengthy
passages require deciphering, which
easily triples or doubles the reading
time the first time around.
So why would anyone raised to
change the channel during a five
minute commercial break waste their
time reading a book?
That time could be spent yelling
racial slurs into x-box live headgear, or
posting sexy-angle-pics on Facebook;
valuable, worthwhile activities which
enrich our lives in oh so many ways.
I’m just having some trouble thinking
of them at the moment.

Corrections for Volume C, Issue 21:
In last week’s issue, on the cover page, AS presidential candidate Harrison Wills’ name was incorrectly printed as Willis.
In the article “Satos enter hall together”, retired SMC Professor Dr. Tommie Smith was attributed as a gold medal winning swimmer, when
in fact it is Lenny Krayzelberg who is a gold medalist in swimming. Dr. Tommie Smith was also a gold medal winner, but for track and field.
Additionally, all of the Satos began their athletic careers in Santa Monica, but not specifically at Santa Monica College. Lastly, Eric Sato
attended SMC during 1984 and ‘85, rather than the stated 1985 and ‘86.

SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

April 20, 2011

OPINION

theCorsaironline.com

7

Egyptian democracy under military’s boot
By Nathan Gawronsky
News Editor
Back in February, while the protestors
in Cairo’s Tahrir Square were reaching
numbers in the hundreds of thousands,
I interviewed Mark Wahba, an Egyptian
student at Santa Monica College. Some
of the questions I touched on had to
deal with thoughts on the fate of Hosni
Mubarak (Egypt’s recently deposed
president of 30 years), the Egyptian
people’s desire for freedom and respect,
and the distinction between the police
and military structures in Egypt. Aside
from Wahba’s parents being Egyptian,
there was very little of what Wahba said
that could be taken as anything but pure
conjecture.
There was, however, one thing that
stood out. On the subject of the military,
Wahba had this to say:
“The military is one with the people,”
said Wahba. “They have the final say, and
they have the happiness of the people at

heart.”
That was two months ago, when the
Egyptian people celebrated the Egyptian
forces for taking their side and allowing
them the forum to voice their collective
frustrations and demands. Pictures
streamed out from Cairo of people
celebrating atop tanks and hugging
soldiers. Their peaceful revolution
seemed just within their grasp, and with
the fall of Hosni Mubarak, it seemed
anything was possible for the Arab
Spring.
Nonetheless, all of my feelings of
trepidation, suspicion, and wariness at
that time about the Egyptian military
assuming control of the transition
from autocracy to democracy have
unfortunately been confirmed.
My grounds for suspicion were based
on the simple fact that the military is not
some isolated structure within Egyptian
society. In all seriousness, militaries
answer to a higher command, and in
the case of Egypt’s military, it doesn’t

take any stretch of the imagination to
assume that Egypt’s generals answered
to Mubarak and his ministries. Whether
they were happy to answer to Mubarak is
another story, but seeing how the army
stood down, and deferred to the will of
the people instead of to established order,
speaks volumes on the opportunity the
army saw to seize power.
Egypt has a big problem on their hands.
On April 11, an Egyptian blogger named
Maikel Nabil, 26, was given three years
in prison for “insulting the army after
he publicized reports of abuses by the
military,” according to the Associated
Press.
I make no claims to being a military
or social/political analyst, but by simple
virtue of common sense, this decision by
the Egyptian army doesn’t seem to “have
the happiness of the people at heart.”
Rather, this seems to send a very clear
message to the Egyptian people, and
that message is this: If you try to practice
your basic human right to free speech,

think again, because we’ll come over,
kick down your door, and throw you in
a cage.
Armies should never be given the trust
and the privilege to govern without a
higher authority for a military to answer
to. They are not only made effectively
above the law, but in the case of Nabil,
they are the law. Which magistrates
or judges have the power to stand up
to the militia? In the cold, methodical
language of revolutions, the man with
the biggest guns and fattest wallet is the
man afforded all the power.
Those couple of months ago, I was
thrilled to see how adamantly devoted
the Egyptian people were towards
realizing their aspirations in a peaceful
manner. Though many people died,
Mubarak ceded power without the need
of a war or military coup. Now with the
military in control and indiscriminately
violating human rights, I sincerely hope
that the once peaceful revolution will not
slip into civil war.

Turn your brains on, Three-ring budget circus

and your laptops off
By Carla Wilson
Staff Writer
There was a story in the news two weeks
ago about a Valdosta State University
college professor who was fed up by a
female student’s ceaseless fiddling on
her computer during his lectures, so
he ended the distraction by casually
strolling up to her desk and slamming
the laptop closed.
The student, who was flabbergasted
by the professor’s shocking mojo, filed
assault charges, claiming her pinky
finger was allegedly injured in the fray.
The once popular professor was arrested,
released on bail and later suspended
from his job.
I’m sure it wasn’t the professor’s intent
to harm the student, but I can honestly
understand his frustration regarding this
particular student’s lack of passion for
classroom etiquette.
What bugs me about this story is the
student’s sense of entitlement; her belief
that she can simply ignore the professor
and just bang away on her keyboard, not
caring about anyone else or how her
behavior negatively affects the energy in
class.
Why can’t some students understand
that college is about more than just
showing up? Why don’t you turn off
your phones, close your laptops and have
some respect for your peers who are in
class to learn and not just to be seen?
What’s up with this digitally influenced
generation, where visceral experience
has been replaced by an app on an

iPhone? Practically everywhere you turn
on campus you see a student’s forehead
permanently fixed downward, staring
into some kind of gadget.
So, they bring their gadgets to class
and rather than be captivated by the
professor’s keen insight on a subject,
some students would rather make status
updates on Facebook or send a text about
some inane article they read on TMZ.
I’m sure a lot of professors are fed up
with this tripe. Not only do they have to
be hyper vigilant about cheating, they
are also forced to endure this kind of
insufferable foolishness in the classroom.
I often wonder why anyone would
choose to deprive themselves of a
quality education in order to obsessively
rummage through cyberspace looking
for that instant gratification of being
“liked” on a website.
With cuts in public education, it’s hard
enough for dedicated students to pay for
school, so if you are less than enthused to
be present and participate, then maybe
that financial aid you were awarded can
be used by someone who actually cares
about learning, growing and thriving in
the real world.
College professors and fellow students
are our link to knowledge and experience.
They deserve our consideration and
respect, in and out of the classroom.
So when you have the urge to text your
girlfriend or watch that YouTube video
in class, be wary, because next time
you might get more than just a bruised
pinky. You may end up with a bruised
education.

theCorsair
Visit thecorsaironline.com for more coverage of
sports, entertainment, news and media.

The Corsair encourages Letters to the Editors. They
should be no longer than 250 words and must be
signed by the writer.
corsair.editorinchief@gmail.com

By Nathan Gawronsky
News Editor
Legislators in Washington, D.C.
captured the attention of the nation last
week with their heated bickering over the
federal budget. For months, the ominous
specter of a government shut down
hung like a dark cloud over the Capitol,
threatening the employment of hundreds
and thousands of federal employees.
However, at the eleventh hour,
Republicans and Democrats came to an
agreement, albeit reluctantly. Democrats
praised President Obama for standing
firm on preserving important domestic
programs like Planned Parenthood, and
Republicans praised House Speaker
John A. Boehner for his notable skills
with negotiating.
The nation had a collective “whew!”
moment. With $38 billion slashed from
the federal deficit, people could finally
rest assured that the government was
working hard to enact real change.
But the whole spectacle was nothing
more than a grand three-ring circus act.
With the federal deficit at an historic high
of $1.4 trillion, the audacity of our elected
officials to be bickering over billions,
when they should be worrying about
trillions, is preposterous.
With every passing day, we are
constantly inundated with the terms:
millions, billions, and trillions. At a
certain point, people become numb to
these figures, and the lines that separate
them become blurred; let’s take a look at
the magnitude of these large numbers.
If I were to start counting at a rate of
one number per second for 16 hours a
day (with eight hours for sleep), getting
to one million would take a little over two

weeks. To get to one billion would take a
little less than 50 years, and to count to
one trillion would take at least 50,000
years.
So, as anyone can see, arguing over
billions when the overwhelming issue is
in the order of trillions is like bickering
over a drop in the ocean.
And what’s their solution to fix this
mess? Democrats want to extend and
raise taxes while cutting certain areas of
discretionary spending, like the defense
budget, for example. Republicans, on the
other hand, want to extend the Bush tax
cuts for the wealthiest Americans (they
expire next year) while slashing domestic
programs which help the most poor and
vulnerable Americans. They would be
perfectly content to cripple Medicaid and
Medicare while preserving our nation’s
defense budget.
President Obama’s budget speech last
week was commendable. The American
people need a strong leader to stand up
for them, and not for the top 1 percent
who earn 80 percent of this country’s
income, resulting in the most unequal
distribution of wealth among developed,
first world Western countries.
Figuring out our finances shouldn’t be
so difficult. Slashing domestic programs
and tax extensions is like a putting a
band-aid on a slashed carotid artery.
What we need is a leader who will put
an end to our endless and unneeded
overspending on the defense budget and
the most leniently taxed upper class of
any developed country in the world.
To ignore these problems is not only
morally reprehensible, but recklessly
irresponsible towards the future well
being of our country, which is in dire
need of help right now.

Paul Alvarez Contributor
Shyanne King completes a put out at first base during the Corsairs game against College of the Canyons Thursday, April
7, at Clover Park in Santa Monica, Calif.

On a cold day at Clover Park,
the Santa Monica Corsairs lost
the second of two games against
the College of the Canyons’
Cougars in five innings last
Thursday.
The Corsairs were off to a slow
start while the Cougars offense
got started early. The Cougars
pitching was solid, with the
Cougar’s starting pitcher able to
paint the lower half of the strike
zone for most of the first four
innings. This became a problem
for the Corsairs, as the only
contact that was made resulted
in weakly hit ground balls in the
infield.
The
Corsairs
showed
improvement on the defensive
side of the ball as the usual errors
that plague the infield were not
an issue. However, the Cougars
were still able to reach base on
a series of singles and weakly hit
balls out of the infield.
The Cougars were also
aggressive on the bases,
constantly
stealing
and
eventually building up a ten
run lead by the end of the third
inning.
A glimpse of the Corsairs
potential appeared in the fourth
inning when sophomore, Alyson
Herman, took over as pitcher for
the Corsairs, striking out several
Canyon batters, and having a

solid overall outing.
Herman, who is planning on
transferring next year, pitched
in the previous game and did
not start for that reason.
In the fifth and final inning,
the Corsairs came out strong
and got on the board. After
doubles by Crystal Hernandez
and Samantha Bozek, Katherine
Aragon hit a single that scored
both runners and dented
Canyons’ confidence as a
Canyons error led to two runs.
“It felt amazing to get the hit
that scored some runs,” said
Aragon.
Although the Corsairs showed
promise in the later innings,
it was too little too late, as
Canyons added one more run
before the game was called in
the fifth inning due to the eightrun rule.
Hernandez said that they’ve
come a long way since last year,
and she is positive for the team’s
future.
One of the main goals of
the team in the off-season is
to actively recruit from high
schools for future teams.
Coach Char Wilson says the
year has looked up for SMC
compared to previous years, and
she’s pleased with the progress
the team is making. “We have
won some conference games
where last year they were 0-18
and scored around 5 runs total
for the season.”

Corsairs sail into playoffs with win
By Wayne Neal
Staff Writer
To get back to the State
Championship, the Santa
Monica College Corsairs had
to go on the road Thursday and
defeat the previously unbeaten
Saddleback Gauchos, the team
that defeated them just a year
ago in the state championships
by an overall match score of
7-2,.
” We are peaking at the
right time,” said Head Coach
Richard Goldenson of his
team that has steadily been
improving throughout the
season.
This was a powerhouse

match-up
as
the
Santa
Monica Corsairs, who are 13-1
overall and 9-0 in conference
play, faced off against the
Saddleback Gauchos (13-0,
10-0).
In their previous match-up,
the Gauchos got the better
end of the series as they
defeated the Corsairs to win
the 2010 State Championship.
“We lost that match 7-6 and
6-2,” said Co-Captain Jutta
Collett, who was looking to
get a little vengeance that
afternoon.
Collett
and
Co-Captain
Gwendolyn Kauffman were
the only returning players
from last season’s title loss

to Saddleback, and they
remember the loss like it
happened yesterday.
“This will definitely be a

“We are at the base
of the summit”
-Richard Goldenson

confident booster if we get the
win today,” said Kauffman, as
she was focused especially for
this match.
Both Captains knew that

this match was not going to be
an easy one, as mostly all of
the individual matches went
during a decisive third set.
Kauffman rallied from a
second set loss to cruise
past her competition 6-2
in her third set. Collett,
unfortunately, was at the
losing end of her battle as she
also split her sets and went to
a third where she lost 3-6. “I
was a little tired after the first
two sets,” said Collett. “I tried
my best.”
The Corsairs were able to take
four out of the six individual
matches with wins coming
from Katerina Mozolyuk, Criss
Rodriguez, Krystal Hansward,

and Gwendolyn Kauffman.
In the doubles sets, the
Corsairs
continued
their
winning ways, rallying to win
two out of the three matches
to take the match overall 6-3.
With their victory over
Saddleback, the Corsairs have
secured home court advantage
for their first three playoff
matches. “We are at the base
of the summit,” said Coach
Goldenson, “we have just
climbed 100 feet more.”
The Corsairs ride their
momentum into Ventura for
the Western State Conference
Championship
for
the
individual matches which are
from April 15 to 16.